Ask the Readers: What Are Your Financial Resolutions for 2012?

Editor's Note: Congratulations to B, cwaltz, and Lynda for winning this week's contest!

With the New Year comes a chance to make new resolutions. From going on a diet to spending more time with family to landing your dream are, chances are you’ve made at least one resolution for 2012. Hopefully one of your resolutions was a financial one!

What are your financial resolutions for 2012? Saving more money/? Paying off your debt? Or being more frugal in your day-to-day life?

Tell us about your 2012 financial resolutions and we'll enter you in a drawing to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

Win 1 of 3 $20 Amazon Gift Cards

We're doing three giveaways — one for random comments, one for random Facebook "Likes", and another one for random tweets.

Mandatory Entry:

Post your answer in the comments below

For extra entries (1 per action):

Go to our Facebook page, "Like" us, and leave a comment on this article telling us you did, or

Tweet your answer. You have to be a follower of our @wisebread account. Include both "@wisebread" and "#WBAsk" in your tweet so we'll see it and count it. Leave a link to your tweet (click the timestamp for the individual URL) in a separate comment.

If you're inspired to write a whole blog post OR you have a photo on flickr to share, please link to it in the comments or tweet it.

Giveaway Rules:

Contest ends Monday, January 9th at 11:59 pm Pacific. Winners will be announced after January 9th on the original post. Winners will also be contacted via email.

You can enter all three drawings — once by leaving a comment, once by liking our Facebook update, and once by tweeting.

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered, or associated with Facebook.

You must be 18 and US resident to enter. Void where prohibited.

Note: Due to recent changes in Facebook's promotions guidelines, we have restructured the entry format of our giveaways.

comments

103 discussions

Add New Comment

Comment: *

CAPTCHA

This test helps prevent automated spam submissions.

Your name: *

E-mail:

Website:

Christie #1

This year...I'm going to keep on doing what we've been doing for years! Living frugally, enjoying our saved-up-for splurges (especially the DisneyWorld trip we're planning!), and keep the unnecessary spending in check. Still working on padding the emergency fund and saving for things in the future.

I've often set savings goals, but after creating the goals never put the requisite effort into fully accomplishing them. This year, I resolve to exercise more diligence in saving with a special focus on retirement. I've gotten started by setting up automatic payroll deposits into a savings account that's not accessible on a whim. In three months, I will reassess my budget and open a Roth IRA to complement my TSP.

Seeing as the only debt I have is my car loan, my financial plans for this next year is to save as much money as possible for a down payment on a house. I have enough now to feel comfortable but more is always nice!

I am being more frugal and hopefully environmentally friendly in my day to day life. I am making everything I can from home like shampoo, bath salts, dishwasher and laundry soap. I switched to cloth diapers and wipes and started making my own baby food. I am eating out less and cooking more meals at home with less convenience foods. I am planning a vacation, and these savings are going to make it happen.

A big financial goal for me is to not spend money while at work, reducing unnecessary snacking is an added benefit! My husband and I are both working on spending less and saving more, it is reassuring to have someone else counting on you and keeping you in line with your goals.

My first financial resolution for this year is to set up an automatic savings withdrawal from my checking account into my ING savings. Second is to reduce (hopefully STOP) recreational shopping for the first quarter of the year. Hopefully this will become a new habit...

Now that my involuntary divorce is done, the dust has settled, and the holidays are over, find my financial sweetspot as a single parent; pay the lawyer, pay the child support, get ready for college because I know I'll be the only parent chipping in, and otherwise figure out how to enjoy myself as well.

Our biggest goal is to have monthly financial meetings together. Previously, my husband and I discussed big expenses but I handled the day-to-day and monthly budget on my own. We're both in this together and now we're both discussing $ matters together.

Having just finished Christmas 2011, my resolution is to spend less on Christmas 2012! I have already bought several things at 75% off this week that are going into a box for next Christmas, as well as craft supplies to make a few homespun things. I'm looking forward to seeing how much I can save!

This year my financial goals will be geared towards continuing to pay down debt. Several bills will be cleared in a few months so the amounts paid onto them can roll over to pay other debts. I'll continue making the best use of my resources through frugal living and creative ideas.

We've been debt-free for almost 2 years, so this year we want to be able to give more than we spend on ourselves (excluding re-curring bills such as phone/gas/electric, etc) as well as sink 50% of our total household income (one of us sinks our entire year's pay). This will position us for cash purchase of a retirement home in 36 months.

We are also designing our organic gardens in a way to re-purpose/re-use scrap materials and wood pulled from dead trees on our property for vertical and raised level plots and potagers. Approx 30% of our seeds are saved from 2011. 2012, we want to save 90% and be able to begin sharing with others. This will save us approx $600 annually and we can pass along the savings.

We are planning on starting our retirement funds, and trying to get to a place where our money is working for us a bit better. We are also hoping to transfer our money to a credit union, where we feel it will be safer and better used.

In 2012, I need to get a better handle on the monthly financial leakage I've seen over the past few months. There's always at least one category where I'm over budget each month. One month it's groceries, another it's entertainment due to some one-time program for the kids, one month it's car repairs. If I could stop the small one-off leaks, I could probably save $5000 or more this year.

Last quarter, I had a string of careless mishaps that caused me to buy replacements for items I broke or lost. I'm usually not that careless and these items weren't expensive to replace, but still. My financial resolution for 2012 is to be more mindful of my things so they can last and/or not get lost or damaged.

I think this year my financial goal is to see a higher ROI on the money I put into my photography and videography business this year. I am just getting started with higher end equipment so it was quite nerve-wracking. I also need to become more frugal with my online shopping habits...